Turning Olive Waste into Fuel

March 25, 2009

The rolls are made from the waste produced after olives are pressed at Israeli olive presses, known in Hebrew as gefet. The material is rich in oil and superb for heating, but if left behind at the presses to seep into the soil, will destroy ground water and render the soil infertile. The simple act of collecting it is the product’s first ecological benefit.

While two Tel Aviv entrepreneurs patented the idea of using the material for the stoves, it was entrepreneur Avi Lerber who recognized the potential, bought the patent, and after experimenting with more than 100 substances, found the right one to allow the material to solidify. From there, he developed a method to make the resulting product into convenient rolls, which have many advantages over wood for heating purposes.

Chief among them is the energy component, with a cube of the Olivebar rolls producing almost 2.5 times energy as a cube of wood. No mice or worms come with the rolls, which are aesthetically wrapped in paper that is recyclable and can be used to light the oven. The smoke released has no negative impact on the environment, and the ash left can be used for fertilizing gardens. Using the rolls will also avoid cutting down trees. “It’s a totally green product, all natural, without any glues or chemicals,” Karniel tells ISRAEL21c.

Karniel is particularly proud of the project’s biblical roots. “It’s also important to note that the olive tree, which is one of the seven species of the Land of Israel, is what’s leading this progress, even in the field of ecology,” he says.

Excerpts from an article by Aryeh Dean Cohen, www.Israel21c.org